Eviction Notices Stir Up Jerusalem

Intense U.S. diplomacy and days of negotiations failed late Monday to defuse a confrontation between the Israeli government and Palestinian politicians over the Palestinians’ headquarters in East Jerusalem.

Despite warnings that the move could unleash a wave of violence on the eve of national elections, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered three Palestinian offices to shut down within 24 hours after Palestinians rejected demands that they curtail certain activities.

Netanyahu, in a tight race for reelection and slipping in the polls, has tried to make Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem a centerpiece of his campaign. He maintains that the Palestinians illegally use their East Jerusalem complex, known as Orient House, to stake out a presence in the disputed holy city.

He threatened to use force if the Palestinians do not obey his order.

The Palestinians warned of “bloodshed” if Israeli police try to raid the building.

“I hope they do not try,” Faisal Husseini, the senior Palestinian official for Jerusalem, told a crowd gathered outside Orient House late Monday, “but we will be ready to confront them if they do.”

Under police eviction notices served late Monday, the Palestinians were given 24 hours to vacate three offices the Israelis say have been used--in violation of the law and peace accords--for overt diplomatic activity on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, which has autonomy in the West Bank and Gaza Strip but not in East Jerusalem.

Although the attorney working on behalf of Orient House, Jawad Boulous, said the Palestinians will not seek protection in the Israeli judicial system, a coalition of leftist Israeli peace groups will try to obtain an emergency injunction from the Supreme Court today.

That could buy a few days’ respite, but tensions will remain high. Israeli police said they are bracing for riots, especially ahead of next Monday’s elections.

Many here suspect that Netanyahu was looking for just such an issue to boost his troubled campaign. Most Israelis feel strongly about Jerusalem as their capital, and Netanyahu has sought to portray his main rival, Labor Party leader Ehud Barak, as a weakling who would give away part of the city to Palestinians as part of a peace deal. Barak denies that.

Israel annexed the eastern portion of Jerusalem from Jordan after the 1967 war and has used a vigorous settlement scheme to consolidate its hold. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as their capital in an eventual Palestinian state.

The final status of Jerusalem is to be determined in peace talks.

Netanyahu, through his aides, denied that he was using Orient House as an election ploy. The government accused the Palestinians of forcing the issue, saying that Husseini escalated the dispute by inviting ambassadors to Orient House on Israeli Independence Day last month.

“The provocation did not come from the Israeli government,” Netanyahu spokesman David Bar-Illan said. “The provocation came from them.”

U.S. officials are especially concerned that the dispute could lead to violence. Days of negotiations, including the intervention of Mideast envoy Dennis B. Ross (by telephone), other U.S. officials and a team of European diplomats, finally broke down Monday night after the Palestinians rejected a final offer from the Israelis.

Under the proposed compromise, the Palestinians would agree to move two of the disputed offices--one that monitors Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank and another that handles international contacts--to the West Bank.

The third office in question, Husseini’s, would remain, but he would promise to restrict his activities.

The proposal was rejected after Husseini consulted with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, despite pleas from diplomats that the Palestinians not give Netanyahu election-time ammunition. Some of the Palestinian officials were displeased with wording in the proposed agreement that implied recognition of Israeli control of Jerusalem.

In Washington, the Clinton administration urged the parties to avoid a violent conflict.

“We believe this is an extremely sensitive issue, and both sides--both sides--have a responsibility to defuse it,” State Department spokesman James P. Rubin said. “We are urging the parties to continue their efforts . . . so it will be possible to resolve this issue.”

Times staff writer Norman Kempster in Washington contributed to this report.